1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept is directed to a method, apparatus, and computer readable storage medium directed to a casino wagering game.
2. Description of the Related Art
Texas Holdem Poker is a popular casino live game. In this game, every player uses 7 cards to make a highest 5 card poker hand. Standard poker rankings are used to rate the 5 card hands. Every individual's 7-card hand includes 5 community cards that are shared by all players, and 2 individual cards. In a live game, every player plays against all other players in order to win the pot. A recently introduced Ultimate Texas Holdem depicts a Holdem-like 7 card casino table game where every player plays against the dealer only, not other players.
Pai Gow Poker is a well know casino table game. The original concepts are derived from Chinese Pai Gow game where tiles are used to play. In the tile game, the players and the dealer each receive four tiles to set the low and high hands, and each player competes his low/high hands against the dealer's low/hand hands based upon certain pre-determined rankings In a card game setting, Pai Gow Poker plays with a deck of 52 poker cards plus the Joker. Each player and the dealer receive seven cards to set the low and high hands. The low hand contains two cards and the high hand five cards. Each player's hand competes his low/high hands against the dealer's low/hand hands based upon the regular poker rankings For the 2-card low hand, the highest hand is a pair of Aces and for the 5-card high hand, the rankings are, from high to low, royal flush, straight flush, 4 of a kind, full house, 3 of a kind, two pairs, one pair, Ace high and other singletons. A number of Pai Gow side bets have been introduced to generate additional excitement for players as well as additional action (and hence profit) for the casino.
Mahjong is a Chinese game played by four players against one another. It is a game of skill, strategy, intelligence, calculation and luck. Depending on the variation which is played, luck can be anything from a minor to a dominant factor in success. The object of the game is to build a “Mahjong” (or “Hu” in Chinese) which consists of a pair with suits of threes from the initially dealt thirteen to sixteen tiles, or 3X+1 where X is 4 or 5, plus one. The first person to achieve this goal is said to win the game. The game is very popular in Asia but has not attained the same level of popularity on other continents. One reason is the level of sophistication and complexity of the game. Another reason is the use of unfamiliar tiles which are not as well known as other gaming props like playing cards or dice. On the other hand, the tiles attract players because they could enjoy the crashing sound of the tiles and they could touch through the surface of a tile to speculate what the tile is. Mahjong game's attraction comes from the combination of sound, touch and mental competition.
The art of traditional Mahjong can be found on hundreds of web sites in many languages. See U.S. patent publication 2009/0218767, “Apparatus and Method of Using an Apparatus to Conduct a Wagering Game”, which describes the fundamentals of a traditional Mahjong and is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. See also U.S. Pat. No. 6,688,598 by Hsi and U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,595 by Wong. U.S. Pat. No. 6,834,857 uses 72 cards to play a variation of Mahjong which includes drawing new cards and/or exchanging cards.
See also this inventor's U.S. Pat. No. 7,389,989, “Casino Card Game Having Mahjong Attributes”, wherein a “Mahjong” hand is defined as 5 cards/tiles, namely one pair plus one straight or trips.